Wildfire threat eases across Southeast, shifts West bringing elevated threat to Plains as gusty winds persist
Saturday saw Fire Weather Warnings for nearly 50 million people across nearly 20 states, and while conditions ease in the South, elevated fire risks continue across the Plains on Sunday.
The atmosphere across the eastern half of the country is undergoing a harsh correction, trading record-breaking heat for a bone-dry arctic chill in less than 48 hours.
As temperatures plummet by as much as 30 degrees, a dangerous combination of biting winds and plummeting humidity is turning the landscape into a tinderbox.
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Saturday saw Fire Weather Warnings for nearly 50 million people across nearly 20 states, and while conditions ease in the South, elevated fire risks continue across the Plains on Sunday.
After a heightened Saturday, rising moisture and calmer winds across the South on Sunday will help ease wildfire concerns from the Carolinas into parts of Texas.
At one point, nearly the entire Southeast was under some form of fire weather alert.
Across the Plains, wildfire conditions are beginning to improve. But the FOX Forecast Center warns that the threat isn’t over yet.
While conditions are easing as winds calm, the most dangerous areas remain in parts of Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah, where strong, gusty winds continue to pose a serious risk.
Originating from polar regions, the cooler air mass is exceptionally dry, causing humidity to drop into the teens across a large portion of the country. While the dry air is significant on its own, the combination of the dryness with strong winds creates a dangerous potential for the spread of wildfire.
The winds are driven by an area of high pressure building behind the cold front.
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On Saturday, this seasonably strong high settled over the southern Great Lakes, and the pressure gradient tightened over a relatively short distance, generating stiff breezes, causing the fire threat to intensify across the Southeast and the Plains.
In the Southeast, humidity dropped as low as 20%, especially across parts of South Carolina, southern Georgia and north Florida. Sustained winds reached 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts.
Fire Weather Warnings spanned from western North Carolina through Louisiana, including parts of the Florida panhandle, with a Fire Weather Watch issued for parts of east Texas.
In Nebraska, several wildfires continue to burn near the historic Morrill Fire.
The Minor Fire, which has burned nearly 14,000 acres and is about 7% contained, and the Ashby Fire, which has burned just over 36,000 acres and is 46% contained, could grow again on Sunday as locally stronger winds move through the area.
Some forecasts indicate gusts up to 30 mph, which may further complicate containment efforts.
Fire Weather Warnings and watches in the Plains span from as far north as Minnesota down to the northernmost tip of Texas, and as far west as Wyoming over some western counties in Illinois.
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